The present invention relates to a device for the injection delivery of drugs or vaccines to birds. More particularly, the present invention allows the subcutaneous or intramuscular injection of one or two doses of drugs or vaccines into bird.
Inoculation of one-day old chicks or other small birds using automatic vaccine injection devices is known in the poultry industry. Automatic bird injection devices, including devices suitable for injecting small bird such as one-day chicks, are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,312,353, 4,863,443, 4,758,227, 4,681,565, 4,515,590, 4,276,879, 4,177,810, 4,108,176, 3,964,481, 3,641,998. Such automated devices can allow one person to inoculate a multitude of birds with the significant economic benefit of reduced labor costs.
These automatic injection devices generally provide a movable reciprocating carrier that supports a single injection needle assembly connected to a fluid supply container. The carrier may be actuated relative to a support surface against which the chick is maintained by the operator. Once the needle reaches its extended position, and when it has penetrated into the tissue of the bird, a syringe or other dose delivery means is actuated to deliver the required dose from the supply container to the recipient bird.
It may also be desirable to separately administer different drugs or vaccines. U.S. Pat. No. 4,758,227, for example, provides two injection needles configured to be simultaneously introduced into the bird""s breast muscle tissue. This automatic injection system can to inject two doses at the same time. However, the diminutive size of intended recipient birds, such as one-day chicks, has limited available automatic injectors to delivering the separate doses to the breast muscle tissue on opposite sides of the keel bone.
Many therapeutic compositions are not stable or otherwise incompatible when co-mingled. Such combinations must be either injected consecutively and/or injected into different localities in the recipient bird. Further, for vaccines or drugs that need to be administered subcutaneously into the necks of one-day chicks, a procedure that requires more precise and limited penetration of the bird than generally is practiced by available automatic injection delivery systems is necessary. Manual injections of the drugs or vaccines is still the only procedure available, with the main drawback of reduced production. Moreover, to inject a second dose of a drug or vaccine, the birds must be rehandled, inducing undue stress in the bird and significant increases in costs.
Thus, there exists a need for an automatic inoculating system for small birds, especially for one-day chicks, that can automatically deliver two or more separate doses of therapeutic fluids such as drugs or vaccines via a subcutaneous route.
The present invention provides systems for the injection delivery of at least two fluid doses to a small bird by penetrating the skin of the recipient bird with at least two injection needles. It is possible with the injection delivery system of the present invention to simultaneously inject drugs, or other fluid vaccines that do not mix well or whose mixture would be detrimental to the stability or efficacy of the active ingredients therein. Preferably, the injection ends of the injection needles will penetrate the skin of the recipient bird concurrently and deliver the fluid doses to a small target tissue area. The present invention provides a injection needle support for connecting the injection needles to dose distributors and fluid supply containers while maintaining the injection ends of the injection needles in a substantially parallel arrangement to allow for penetration of the bird""s skin by both needles.
The injection needle support typically is attached to a carrier operably connected to an actuator, an actuator power source and a switch mechanism wherein the actuator, when activated, can reciprocally move the carrier and injection support toward and away from an injection position. The injection delivery system may further includes one or more dose distributors and fluid supply containers for delivering fluid doses to the injection needles for injection into a recipient bird held against an aperture in a retaining plate. When the carrier and injection needle support are in an extended position, the injection needles attached project through the apertures of the needle support and penetrate a selected area of the skin of the recipient bird. The fluid dose(s) is then delivered through the injection needles to the bird. The injection needle support of the present invention generally comprises a base, a base plate having recesses for receiving hubs of the injection needles, and an end plate having bores for receiving the shank portions of the injection needles. The needle support further comprises fluid connections for delivering fluid doses to the needles and which communicate with the recesses and the hubs of injection needles inserted therein. The shank portions of the needles also may be curved and not bent so that their internal canula sections are substantially maintained and fluid flow is not restricted. The injection ends of the needles generally project from the injection needle support in a substantially parallel configuration and in close proximity to each other to allow the substantially simultaneous penetration of the skin of a recipient bird, but with sufficient separation such that the fluids being administered do not substantially mix or interfere with each other once subcutaneously administered.
The injection ends of the needles also may be beveled. In one embodiment of the present invention, the needles are oriented about their longitudinal axes to face the bevels away from each other, thereby directing the two fluid flows exiting from the injection ends into opposite directions.
In another embodiment of the injection delivery system of the present invention, the injection needles each are operably connected via a fluid connection to a dose distributor, such as a multidose syringe, attached to the injection needle support. Alternatively, the dose distributor(s) may be a large volume multidose syringe that simultaneously provides a fluid supply container. The multidose syringe can be stepwise actuated to deliver a series of consecutive fluid doses. A pump also may be used to deliver the injectable fluid from a fluid supply container, and to expel the required dose from the injection needle. Additionally, the fluid connections can include substantially rigid piping, or can include flexible fluid ducts. The flexible fluid ducts allow the dose distributors to be located on the movable carrier but separate from the injection needle support, or on a fixed part of the system.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, a single dose distributor can be operably connected to both injection needles to deliver the same fluid to both injection needles. Each injection needle also can be operably connected to a separate dose distributor which allows the injection of at least two doses of different fluids, wherein the volume of each fluid dose may be identical or different, and the two fluid doses may be delivered to the recipient bird simultaneously or consecutively.
The reciprocating carrier further typically is driven by a hydraulic or electric actuator mechanism and the dose distributor(s) also will be operably connected to multidirectional flow valve to alternatively draw liquid from the fluid supply container and to expel a desired dose through the respective needle.
Additional objects and aspects of the present invention will become more apparent upon review of the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures, which are briefly described as follows.